My father, Robert Henry Walker, was an engineering designer and leading draughtsman in HMDockyard, Rosyth. He also ran his own architectural business during the 1970s from home, employing 2 or 3 draughtsmen at a time depending on the commissions he received. Drawings were made for houses, boats and yachts which he designed, but he also attracted a lot of work from Redpath Dorman Long who built oil-rigs in the North Sea. This is where I came in! I worked in the home studio with my Dad during my school holidays. I was assigned repetitive work on a huge technical drawing board using Rotring pens and rulers which clicked into place every millimetre to create cross-hatching for handrails or lift shaft designs for offshore rigs. I am sure that this impacted on my drawing style today: I still use the Rotrings (some of them date back to the 1070s) and I still work line upon patient line to build an image.
When my Dad passed away, I began the move back into my old family home. I turned out his study. I found plans, drawings, notebooks, templates, and HUNDREDS of pencils and pens, plus some lovely architectural drawing film. I knew at the time I wanted to make some posthumous collaborative work using the tools of Dad's trade. In latter years, he would look at my artwork and ask: "why do you draw like this?" - and I would reply it was all his doing, for apprenticing me to draw all that cross-hatching!
Thanks for visiting, see you next week!